Edition 1
2005 edition 1
Bula Vinaka!
“Seek and ye shall find” : Motto of Suva Grammar School
z I have arrived! z
My mother did not believe when I told her that there are direct flights to Suva instead of Nadi which is on the other side of the island. She then got a good laugh when we arrived at Sydney airport to be told that the direct flight I was booked on had been cancelled! No reason or explanation given. I was told that there would be buses (not planes) to take me from Nadi to Suva (distance 168 km) which would take 3 hours or so. The journey begins eh?! The journey ended at 1am (midnight NSW time) with me knocking on the door of a house trying to wake up Robyn who I will be living with. Dogs were barking, chains and bars on every door but on the front door was a familiar sticker - “not happy John”. I knew I had come to an Australian house! After the flight, the long waiting in queues to get through immigration and customs, the busride where we stopped at Hideaway resort for dinner at 10pm and then waiting anxiously at another hotel in Suva where the buses dropped us off for Robyn to pick me up, then giving up, looking up her address in the phone book, hiring a cab who then got lost and did not know the street I asked for (I ended up giving him directions as I knew it is on the same road as Suva Grammar School), I flopped onto my little bed, pulled the mosquito net over me and slept till 11am the next day.
Dogs are prevalent in Fiji. In my street alone it appears that each house has at least 3 dogs. Anna and I came up with a term to describe them on our last trip to Fiji - “Interbred”. I actually saw one today that had remnants of Boxer in his face. His great great great grandfather may have been a Boxer. Most Interbreds are a fawn color with spots of white and black. They tend to be the same size and all of them thin, whippet-like. I have been told stories of many people being bitten by dogs so I guess it is a matter of time before it happens to me as it did when I was two by our family dog at the time. I have already had my first fright when I was walking home and already had 5 dogs trailing after me. Next minute, two more black ones lept out of the bushes and were barking madly. I thought “here it is, my moment to be bitten by a dog and it’s happening on my first day in Fiji!” but they were more interested in ripping flesh off each other. Other locals just walked by as if nothing was happening while I was standing frozen in the middle of the road. “I just got to act like them” I thought. I was already proud of myself for getting into the amble gait of people here. Too hot to rush anywhere anyway. So I have been ambling all day and just a few times have had to check myself for my speed. So back to the dogs: their attention was on each other so it was a good time for me to amble on by while doing an internal “phew” with my hand.
My house is a 3 bedroom government house. All the houses in the street are the same. This street (Veiuto Rd) used to be jokingly called Earl’s Court because it was full of Australians. Thankfully it is more mixed now with some Tongan medical students across the road and a Japanese family further up. The furnishing is plain and simple and the floors all bare lino. The windows all louvre and we have purple hibiscus curtains hanging. The local policeman was told a new Aussie had moved in so he paid a visit and took my name and noted where I live. Good security eh? Tonight I was given a welcome ceremony by Seini who lives across the road and Robyn who I share with. We sat on the mat and drank yagona (kava or muddy water as some Australians like to call it). It leaves your tongue pleasantly numb for a short while.
My room has a bed, a desk and a bedside table with a built-in wardrobe. I have stuck some watercolours that Mum did of my favourite flower - Hoya on the wall. I have a fan which I have not had to use yet. I am sweating most of the time but I don’t find it annoying. I have a mosquito net over my bed which also keeps the geckos away. They are plastered to the walls motionless. The first time I saw one on my window sill, I thought it was a plastic toy left by a child till I realised it was real.
Observations to date:
Written on the bus visor today was “taliban”. I have been told it’s a Hindi word.
Bus trips costs 60 cents
A glass of homemade lemon juice on the road side costs 20 cents.
Downtown Suva has a huge billboard of Lote Tuqiri which I can gaze at.
The Vice President of Fiji has just been put in jail for his role in the 2000 coup.
An article in the Fiji Times states that Bollywood is now making movies with Lesbian themes.
The average size of a household/family is 6 (according to the Fiji Times)
Men play rugby/do rugby training/ warm up for rugby on any spare piece of land.
You can hail a bus from anywhere on the road.
Only when the bus completely stops do you get up to get off the bus and you can take your time.
By 2006 it is expected that there will be 90 000 squatters living in Suva (Fiji Times).
The water in the Olympic pool that I swam in yesterday was 24 degrees.
Tomorrow I start my Fiji language classes and meet the executive of the Fiji Association of the Deaf (FAD).
Till next time.......
Moce (pronounced “mothe”)
Bula Vinaka!
“Seek and ye shall find” : Motto of Suva Grammar School
z I have arrived! z
My mother did not believe when I told her that there are direct flights to Suva instead of Nadi which is on the other side of the island. She then got a good laugh when we arrived at Sydney airport to be told that the direct flight I was booked on had been cancelled! No reason or explanation given. I was told that there would be buses (not planes) to take me from Nadi to Suva (distance 168 km) which would take 3 hours or so. The journey begins eh?! The journey ended at 1am (midnight NSW time) with me knocking on the door of a house trying to wake up Robyn who I will be living with. Dogs were barking, chains and bars on every door but on the front door was a familiar sticker - “not happy John”. I knew I had come to an Australian house! After the flight, the long waiting in queues to get through immigration and customs, the busride where we stopped at Hideaway resort for dinner at 10pm and then waiting anxiously at another hotel in Suva where the buses dropped us off for Robyn to pick me up, then giving up, looking up her address in the phone book, hiring a cab who then got lost and did not know the street I asked for (I ended up giving him directions as I knew it is on the same road as Suva Grammar School), I flopped onto my little bed, pulled the mosquito net over me and slept till 11am the next day.
Dogs are prevalent in Fiji. In my street alone it appears that each house has at least 3 dogs. Anna and I came up with a term to describe them on our last trip to Fiji - “Interbred”. I actually saw one today that had remnants of Boxer in his face. His great great great grandfather may have been a Boxer. Most Interbreds are a fawn color with spots of white and black. They tend to be the same size and all of them thin, whippet-like. I have been told stories of many people being bitten by dogs so I guess it is a matter of time before it happens to me as it did when I was two by our family dog at the time. I have already had my first fright when I was walking home and already had 5 dogs trailing after me. Next minute, two more black ones lept out of the bushes and were barking madly. I thought “here it is, my moment to be bitten by a dog and it’s happening on my first day in Fiji!” but they were more interested in ripping flesh off each other. Other locals just walked by as if nothing was happening while I was standing frozen in the middle of the road. “I just got to act like them” I thought. I was already proud of myself for getting into the amble gait of people here. Too hot to rush anywhere anyway. So I have been ambling all day and just a few times have had to check myself for my speed. So back to the dogs: their attention was on each other so it was a good time for me to amble on by while doing an internal “phew” with my hand.
My house is a 3 bedroom government house. All the houses in the street are the same. This street (Veiuto Rd) used to be jokingly called Earl’s Court because it was full of Australians. Thankfully it is more mixed now with some Tongan medical students across the road and a Japanese family further up. The furnishing is plain and simple and the floors all bare lino. The windows all louvre and we have purple hibiscus curtains hanging. The local policeman was told a new Aussie had moved in so he paid a visit and took my name and noted where I live. Good security eh? Tonight I was given a welcome ceremony by Seini who lives across the road and Robyn who I share with. We sat on the mat and drank yagona (kava or muddy water as some Australians like to call it). It leaves your tongue pleasantly numb for a short while.
My room has a bed, a desk and a bedside table with a built-in wardrobe. I have stuck some watercolours that Mum did of my favourite flower - Hoya on the wall. I have a fan which I have not had to use yet. I am sweating most of the time but I don’t find it annoying. I have a mosquito net over my bed which also keeps the geckos away. They are plastered to the walls motionless. The first time I saw one on my window sill, I thought it was a plastic toy left by a child till I realised it was real.
Observations to date:
Written on the bus visor today was “taliban”. I have been told it’s a Hindi word.
Bus trips costs 60 cents
A glass of homemade lemon juice on the road side costs 20 cents.
Downtown Suva has a huge billboard of Lote Tuqiri which I can gaze at.
The Vice President of Fiji has just been put in jail for his role in the 2000 coup.
An article in the Fiji Times states that Bollywood is now making movies with Lesbian themes.
The average size of a household/family is 6 (according to the Fiji Times)
Men play rugby/do rugby training/ warm up for rugby on any spare piece of land.
You can hail a bus from anywhere on the road.
Only when the bus completely stops do you get up to get off the bus and you can take your time.
By 2006 it is expected that there will be 90 000 squatters living in Suva (Fiji Times).
The water in the Olympic pool that I swam in yesterday was 24 degrees.
Tomorrow I start my Fiji language classes and meet the executive of the Fiji Association of the Deaf (FAD).
Till next time.......
Moce (pronounced “mothe”)
posted by kate at 10:46 pm
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